Meet the New Provost: Q&A with Jim Garrett
You may have seen the title “provost” before, but its meaning might be somewhat of a mystery. The provost is a university’s chief academic officer and oversees the institution’s academic mission and priorities, as well as the allocation of resources that support their respective goals.
While our new provost, Jim Garrett, just started in the role in January, he’s certainly no stranger to Carnegie Mellon. A three-time graduate of the university and former dean of the College of Engineering, he’s a Tartan through and through.
Here, Provost Garrett shares some of his insights on what makes Carnegie Mellon such a special place, and advice as a Carnegie Mellon parent himself:
You’ve seen the university from many perspectives, including student, alumnus, faculty member, dean, parent and now provost. What do you appreciate most about Carnegie Mellon University?
In thinking about what I appreciate most at CMU, the people immediately come to mind. Throughout my entire time at CMU, as a student and throughout my career, I have always believed that the combination of our passion, energy, can-do attitude and creativity makes CMU a very special place. Everyone – including students, staff, faculty, administrators and alumni – is proud of what we accomplish and our ever increasing impact, and have a genuine interest in seeing Carnegie Mellon grow as a vibrant and collaborative community of learners and scholars.
How does being a parent influence your perspective as provost?
My wife and I were so excited to see both our daughter and son attend CMU, and we delighted in seeing them enjoy and benefit from their time at Carnegie Mellon. They each took different paths, from each other and from their alumni parents, but interesting and valuable paths nonetheless. Seeing Carnegie Mellon through their eyes and observing their experiences, I gained a better understanding of the enduring qualities of the Carnegie Mellon educational experience that we provide to our students that help them succeed, and the areas we can continually improve related to their on-campus experience and how best to engage and support them throughout their lifelong journey.
What advice do you have for other parents about how they can help their students get the most out of their CMU experience?
When my children first started college, I’ll admit that I had my own sense of how they should approach college life – but times certainly changed over the years from when I graduated. As a parent, I quickly understood that every student has unique expectations, apprehensions and curiosities when it comes to college, so it’s important to encourage students to find their own path. As a university, we make sure to offer an abundance of courses that inspire and challenge, diverse opportunities for student engagement, and a supportive mentoring network for when students need a helping hand. And as CMU parents, one of the best things we can do is to encourage our students to discover their distinctive talents and how they’ll use them to make an impact in their lives, in their careers and in the world around us. This will very likely not be a direct path, but one that has many twists and turns. We should let them know that such challenges are to be expected and encourage them to not just focus on the destination but also to make sure to enjoy the journey. And, we should remind them that when things don’t turn out as planned, that those are the times when we learn the most.